German Coalition Agreement: No new beginning, no dynamism, no cohesion, just the same old mercantilism
The Grand Coalition Agreement between Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is impressive alone due to its enormous volume. …

Germany’s metal workers’ union: Making a success out of failure
By Heiner Flassbeck and Michael Paetz (1)
Germany’s metal and engineering union, IG Metall, claimed to have scored a major success last week. A 4.3 percent pay rise sounds good if you demanded 6 percent with a lot of ballyhoo. …

Plutocrats govern nations
Currently, the three richest Americans – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett – own as much wealth as the bottom half of the American population (ca. 160 million) (see here). 2017 was a good year for the world’s wealthiest: they became $1 trillion richer (see here). …